Having had a few days to settle in and meet professors at the Polytechnic, we began to develop an idea for the project. A mechanical engineer, traveling with the Watson Fellowship, collaborated with our NEWT team. He had experience building water treatment systems in Southeast Asia, which has been very useful for our planning. We are thinking of using a multi-filter flow system that pulls the water through gravel filtration, fine sand filtration, and a final biochar filter. We plan to test the capabilities of the Moringa seed as well in order to determine if it can greatly increase the effectiveness of the treatment process. We will try to either include it as a step in the flow system or create a more transportable alternative treatment system that is hopefully more portable.

Initial planning has included determining desired test parameters. Working off Dr. Mkandawire’s initial research, we decided to test for biological content, physical properties such as turbidity and pH, as well as several chemical compounds and heavy metals, which could be a result of pollution. By mid next week, hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday (June 7^th/8^th), we plan on going to several village sites, after seeking approval from the health board and local traditional authorities. We will collect samples and run tests, as well as ask questions, to find a desirable site.

This weekend, we visited an industrial construction supply warehouse to find quotations on materials we need to build our system. Walking through the less polished section of Blantyre was a great experience, displaying the contrast with some of the fundamental health and safety standards in the United States. Workers at the warehouse we visited climbed barefoot on rusted steel sheet metal and there was very little lighting in the storage rooms of materials as dangerous as barbed wire. This highlighted just how different we in the developed world can be. It will be interesting to see, as we go further into this project, what other safety protocols so highly valued in the U.S. have not taken hold in Malawi.

The following day, we, along with several other students from the Global Health Initiative among other programs, took a hiking trip to Mount Mulanjie, which peaks at over 3,000m. Walking up the mountain, we saw Malawians cutting down trees and hand sawing the logs to create boards. This showed that Malawi was growing and developing, needing new construction materials, but at the same time, it raises concerns as to what the environmental cost might be. There is likely little regulation on proper harvesting, leaving the possibility of destroying natural wildlife for the sake of expansion. Whenever this has happened, it seems that in hindsight, governments had wished they had better regulations in place. Maybe it can be prevented in Malawi.